"As the entire Afghanistan intervention plunges towards an inevitable disastrous and bloody conclusion, Canada is leading the race to abandon ship...an inglorious ending looms large on the horizon, cutting and running seems to be the order of the day.."

and so the end draws near - ten years of blood and treasure and phony opposition has brought us to this point..

"More than a decade after America's war in Afghanistan began, the US will part with a notorious military prison there, signing off on Friday the control of the detention facility at the Bagram airbase to the Afghans. Speaking to Salon last year, Daphne Eviatar of Human Rights First said, 'There are no laws under the rules of war governing how you treat detainees, in this kind of armed conflict, at play in Afghanistan, so as a result, she added, 'The US government says that those laws don't apply beyond its own borders therefore no laws apply' at Bagram..."

Yet Canada handed over POWS just the same. Too bad all our pols conspired to bury the detainee issue.

"...Judge Paget's decision was not based on the assumption that Mohammed Gul was a potential terrorist or threat to the UK, but rather, that any armed attack against the Afghani government or the [NATO] coalition forces should be seen as being terrorist in its nature, thereby underming the very concept of self-determination.."

only in 'law' not in reality as proven and demonstrated by the Afghan resistance and NATO's defeat.

An American soldier opened fire on villagers near his base in southern Afghanistan Sunday and killed 16 civilians, according to President Hamid Karzai, who called it an "assassination" and furiously demanded an explanation from Washington. Nine children and three women were among the dead.

The killing spree deepened a crisis between U.S. forces and their Afghan hosts over Americans burning Muslim holy books on a base in Afghanistan last month. The Quran burnings sparked weeks of violent protests and attacks that left some 30 dead. Six U.S. service members have been killed by their Afghan colleagues since the burnings came to light, and the violence had just started to calm down.

Sorry but the CIA/ISI should have left the Marxist Taraki government alone in the same way they should have left Iran alone in 1953. The U.S. and friends have interfered with a lot more countries than just Afghanistan over several decades. Afghanistan is but one instance. Torture, basic human rights violations, and grinding poverty have become permanent features of U.S.-occupied Afghanistan. The CIA-ISI's Talibanization of Afghanistan and Pakistan since the 1980s and 90s was never agreed to by millions of desperately poor people living in those countries.

George: "In Afghanistan things go from bad to worse, mainly for the local Afghans who never aked for foreigners to be sent to their country to occupy it, burn their Qurans, bomb their villages and towns and kill their women and children. But a necessary consequence of a foreign invasion and occupation is resistance, and the Afghans are putting up a mighty resistance..."

George Galloway's Call in Comment program on Press TV: this week Afghanistan and other topics

"Afghan eyewitnesses say US troops have burnt nearly a dozen bodies of the Afghan victims, whom American servicemen had earlier massacred. Villagers said the US forces later collected 11 of the bodies, including those of four girls under the age of six, and set them on fire.."

"On 11 March 2012, a group of American soldiers murdered 16 civilians, including nine children in southern Kandahar province in Afghanistan. Witnesses say the American soldiers were laughing when they carried out the shootings. The US Embassy in Kabul said only one American soldier had been detained after the shootings.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai described the Kandahar attack as 'intellectual murder'. 'They poured chemicals over their dead bodies and burned them,' Haji Samad told Reuters. A 15 year old survivoer named Rafiullah said that soldiers broke into his house, woke up his family and began shooting them..."

"They (Americans) poured chemicals over their dead bodies and burned them," Samad told Reuters at the scene.Neighbors said they had awoken to crackling gunfire from American soldiers, who they described as laughing and drunk."They were all drunk and shooting all over the place," said neighbor Agha Lala, who visited one of the homes where killings took place."Their (the victims') bodies were riddled with bullets."

"Afghanistan's parliament has condemned the killing of 16 civilians by an American sergeant on Sunday. It demands a public trial, saying Afghans have run out of patience with how the NATO-led coalition forces are acting in the country..."

Jeez, the military-industrial complex seems to be creating enemies for fun and profit in yet another country in Asia. When have they ever done that before? More evidence of phony war based on lies and deception. It's not whether they win or lose, it's how much money they can extort from their own taxpayers before the gig is up. This is how actual capitalism in America and the U.K. (and now Canada) works.

The 1000 or so CF 'trainers' in Afghanistan had best keep their heads down and watch where they tread and their Afghan 'students' hands, or they'll be joining the other hundred and a half or so of our glorious, useless dead. They should be pulled out of there ASAP. The Afghan people have had enough even if Canuckleheads don't much care - and this will go bigger and not stop until NATO's murderous military psychos are gone from their country. Ten years the Canadian people let this thing go on. What a bloody shame...

"There are calls for public oversight of an elite military unit amid allegations that a Canadian soldier was involved in an unlawful killing of an Afghan...'We know nothing about this formally,' said NDP MP Jack Harris. 'All we know is what individuals may tell us.'

"The tribal leaders of the southern province of Kandahar said on Monday that several US forces, not a single soldier, contributed to the brutal carnage of Afghan civilians and that the violent actions had been planned previously. They say the carnage was in retaliation against a deadly bomb attack on the US troops in Zagabad district in the town of Panjwaii in the province of Kandahar, which inflicted serious damage on the American military forces.

Following the blast, the American forces summoned local Afghans and tribal leaders of the region and vowed a bloody revenge on their children and wives, Kandahar tribal leaders added. Local witnesses however, put the number of the victims at 18, saying nearly a dozen bodies of the Afghan victims were burnt after the slaughter..."

It seems to me that youve implied the NDP are insiders to the specifics on torture and recent war crimes in the Afghanistan. You seem to be suggesting that the Harpers and Liberals before them have been perfectly transparent to public inquiries, and that if only the NDP would press them on these issues democracy might be served.

And your conspiracy theory scenario is just not the case because Ottawa is broken. Our corrupt stooges have no incentive to be held accountable to the public however much as the NDP opposes the current setup. The only way our colonial administrators can be forced to stand up like men with spines and tell the truth, and not cunningly and willfully lie their bare faces off to Canada's Parliament, is if more Canadians vote NDP in opposing the corrupt stooges currently abusing phony majority dictatorial power in Ottawa.

The U.S. soldier suspected of killing 16 Afghan villagers on a rampage was caught on surveillance video that showed him walking up to his base, laying down his weapon and raising his arms in surrender, according to an Afghan official who viewed the footage.

"How much is enough?' he said Tuesday. 'The United States has been in Afghanistan for more than ten years. And President Obama insists we will remain in Afghanistan until the end of 2014. Why? What will be accomplished by staying in that godforsaken hellhole for another 20 months that hasn't been accomplished in 10 and a half years?..."

"Since the Canadian training mission in Afghanistan began last year, the federal government has said the purpose is to help Afghan army and police develop the skills needed to take responsibility for the country's security in 2014. But shortly before visiting Afghanistan this past Christmas, Gov Gen David Johnston was told another reason 950 Canadian troops have been deployed to Kabul and two other central Afghan cities:

to free up US soldiers for combat.

The statement is found in briefing notes that were prepared in advance of Johnston's visit to Afghanistan, Kuwait and HMCS Vancouver in the Mediterranean and obtained by Postmedia News through Access to Information. According to the briefing note for Johnston, 'location and billets were based on...where it was assessed that Canada could get the greatest effect on the ground and free up American forces to move to a combat role.'

It's the first time such an objective has been mentioned. The Department of National Defence did not respond to questions.."

"Liberal Defence Critic John McKay, whose party supported the training mission, said every incident involving an American or other allied troop puts Canadian forces at risk while endangering the work and sacrifice that has clearly been made.

'We spent billions and billions of dollars in Afghanistan, and we have 158 dead and hundreds with injuries, but we don't seem to be any closer,' he said. 'We might be approaching enough is enough. I don't think we're quite there yet, but I'm hoping that the senior leadership in our military and in our government has talked to our counterparts and been very blunt with them.'

NDP defence critic David Christopherson, however, said the incidents should be the last straw, and that as other countries change their timetable for withdrawal, Canada would be well advised to do the same. 'The recent events in Afghanistan are certainly tragic and it certainly underscores the no-win situation,' he said. 'It is time for our troops to come home."

They're also accomplices. But wasn't that Jack Layton's position all along...that combat was actually the wrong mission for Canada, and that we should play a more 'constructive' role? The fact of the matter is that whatever we do in the context of Afghanistan lightens the load on US military expenditures. They really mean it when they pat us on the head to say we're quite valuable as allies.

Some of my righteous dude Liberal friends actually supported the CIA, ISI, and Saudi's covert interventions in 1980s Afghanistan. And today they are just rabidly anti-NDP as usual and taking no real stands on anything significant. I find debating with Liberals is like trying to staple jello to a wall.

So, did any of the anti-NDP supporters here actually vote in any of the last several elections in protest of Canadian troops in Afghanistan? Or are the comments here just a lot of hot air?

I know which party I voted for, and it's the only party in Ottawa on the record as calling for withdrawing combat troops from the CIA's 30 year-long project in Central Asia. I guess that gives me the right to complain about our troops having been there ever since the Libranos secretly slid them into a U.S.-style combat role in Kandahar beginning in 2005 after a lot of stuttering and stammering to the NDP's questioning in Parliament.

I can't speak for anyone anywhere else Fidel, but there were no such candidates in my riding that one could select from to register a protest. Actually I think it might be fairer to say NDP non-supporters. Saying 'anti' like that makes us sound like anti-christs or something.

I can't speak for anyone anywhere else Fidel, but there were no such candidates in my riding that one could select from to register a protest.

So you're living in an Amish community? Jehovah's?

Slumberjack wrote:

Actually I think it might be fairer to say NDP non-supporters. Saying 'anti' like that makes us sound like anti-christs or something.

So, I think what you're saying is that you didn't actually cast a vote of protest for any candidate whose party is on the record for opposing Canada's participation in the U.S.-led military occupation of Afghanistan. Is that right?

What do you think about Canadian troops still there in Afghanistan now that it's 2012? If you don't vote for a party promising to bring the troops home, then why would you even complain about it in a public forum like this one? I'm pretty sure our amazing willpower alone couldnt stop them from murdering Afghans from 2005 on, and that's one of the reasons why I voted NDP every chance I had.

At least ten Afghan civilians, including six women and four children, have been killed and two others wounded when a roadside bomb went off in Afghanistan's southern province of Uruzgan, Press TV reports.

Sayed Hamdard Maruf, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said the incident took place at around 11 a.m. local time (0630 GMT) on Thursday in the Deh Rawud district of the province, located some 370 kilometers (229 miles) south of Afghan capital city Kabul, when a vehicle touched off a buried explosive device.

On Wednesday, eight civilians lost their lives in a similar incident in the neighboring province of Helmand.

Actually, a Jehovah candidate would have been a step up from the Cons, Libs and Dipsters on the issue of Afghanistan involvement if you understand anything of that religion. But no, here we didn't have any party available that took a stand against Afghanistan involvement, and even then it represents but a single issue one way or another, which although important enough to get out of bed for if it actually meant changing anything, still represents scarce meat on the bone when considering every other foreign policy issue of contention.

Quote:

So, I think what you're saying is that you didn't actually cast a vote of protest for any candidate whose party is on the record for opposing Canada's participation in the U.S.-led military occupation of Afghanistan. Is that right?

Impossible to do for reasons already elaborated on.

Quote:

What do you think about Canadian troops still there in Afghanistan now that it's 2012? If you don't vote for a party promising to bring the troops home, then why would you even complain about it in a public forum like this one? I'm pretty sure our amazing willpower alone couldnt stop them from murdering Afghans from 2005 on, and that's one of the reasons why I voted NDP every chance I had.

Jack Layton wrote:

Our skills and reputation as a peacemaker give Canada the basis for an active role after our troops withdraw in 2011.

and from the NDP Platform:

Quote:

We will end Canada's combat involvement in Afghanistan, and we will bring our troops home. In its place, we will commit to an on-going civilian development program focused on women, youth and children; regional diplomacy; the rule of law and human rights; institution building and humanitarian assistance.

What do they have to say on the matter of our latest military re-alignment to the peacemaking role in Afghanistan...from south to north away from the previous mission of actual combat operations? I think these statements provide us with a clue in the absence of elaboration on their website. Such statements are quite difficult to come anywhere in fact. Even google fails us in this regard. The above quote from the platform however constitutes almost precicely the sum total of their remarks about policy in Afghanistan, after 10 plus years of war and many billions of dollars in public expenditures, lives lost, bodies and minds forever maimed.

"The news of the latest US atrocities against the Afghan people struck like a thunderclap over the weekend. Here were whole families killed for sport by a US soldier - although many reports say it was a detatchment of soldiers and that seems the more likely story.

As FAIR reported here, the media treated this as simply a public relations disaster like the urination on the bodies of slaughtered Afghans by the soldiers of the Empire or the 'accidental' burning of the Koran. This is not war; it is an occupation. Every occupation is built on a mountain of corpses.

Let us be perfectly clear. The right to resist occupation by any and all means is enshrined in international law and somewhere deeply in the human brain. And that includes resisting by force. So whose cause is just? It is the cause of those Afghanis who are fighting to throw off a bloody Occupation. That has to be recognized. It may not be a slogan around which to build a movement of millions. But it is surely the truth and we must point it out at every turn..."

"...It was the demand of the families of the martyrs of this incident, the people of Kandahar and the people of Afghanistan to try him publicly in Afghanistan,' said Mohammad Naeem Lalai Hamidzai, a Kandahar lawmaker who is part of a parliamentary commission investigating the shootings.

Meanwhile, American military defense lawyer Michael Waddington says the decision to remove the soldier from the country may complicate the situation. The prosecutor won't be able to cross-examine statements from Afghan witnessesw unless the defense is able to cross-examine them he said.

Witnesses to the atrocity say that several drunken American servicemen were involved. Since then Afghanistan has been shaken by mass protests..."

Taliban Halts Talks with the US, Karzai Wants Security Control A Year Earlier

Who else could the CIA, ISI, and Saudis possibly have been holding talks with besides the Taliban?

We can bet those clandestine talks behind closed doors in swanky hotel rooms of Islamabad and Karachi did not include groups representing Afghan women, nor the other 80% of the Afghan resistance, And never mind Karzai's political opposition. Uncle Sam and their cold war pals in Pakistan's army intelligence only see the Taliban, their former proxy government in Kabul, as legitimate opposition. All other Afghans will be told to go to hell.

Canada is leading the race to abandon ship...an inglorious ending looms large on the horizon, cutting and running seems to be the order of the day.."

and so the end draws near - ten years of blood and treasure and phony opposition has brought us to this point..

This headline is absurd. No, Canada is not leading the way out of Afghanistan. Other countries withdrew some time ago.

Our corrupt stooges who repent not of their stoogeries are only following Warshington's lead as per usual. And the talk in Warshington is of maybe leaving Afghanistan. Some day in the distant future. Our obedient lapdogs in Ottawa would never dream of taking the lead on anything. They are incapable of it - their craniums were opened and brains siphoned-off to the states along with the oil some time ago.

"...The Afghani war is over. Yet the President, his cheerfully on-message advisers, and most of the stenographer media refuse to call it a night when the situation on the ground, with its secret night-raids and fuckedup soldiers, can only get much worse. What are we waiting for, an engraved invitation to leave?"

'We must kill them. We must incinerate them. Pig after pig...cow after cow...village after village...army after army..' Colonel Kurtz in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now

"...And forget about 'stability'. The 'Afghan security forces' that will theoretically be in charge by 2014, or even before, are doomed. Their illiteracy rate is a staggering 80 per cent. At least 25 percent become deserters. Child rape is endemic. Over 50 percent are permanently stoned on hashish, or steroids.

This was Afghanistan's Haditha moment - as in Iraq, or My Lai as in Vietnam..."

"An American soldier suspected of shooting 16 civilians in Afghanistan on Sunday is being moved to a military base in Kansas, officials say. The transfer to a 'safer' detention facility sparked fury among Afghan lawmakers who urged a public trial in Afghanistan. It also drove hundreds of Afghans into the streets across the country in further protests against the rampage..."

and take all the rest of your mad murdering military home as well NATO!